Where Worlds Collide

The government have taken some of Richard Branson’s toys away.  Virgin Trains have, as most people expected, lost the Cross-Country franchise.  The franchise winner is Arriva Trains, who will take over the existing Penzance/Bournmouth - Manchester/Aberdeen routes, along with a couple of other long-distance east-west routes currently operated by Central Trains.

Not sure about their proposed livery, which looks rather dull compared with the striking Virgin Trains red and silver.  The Voyagers are allegedly going to be refurbished with more luggage space (about bloody time) and more seats (where?), and a few superannuated HST sets will be resurrected to augment the fleet.

Bad news for passengers is the likelyhood of substantial above-inflation fare rises over the life of the franchise.  No change from Virgin there, then…

In a previous post, I questioned the value of mainstream critics, whose overwhelming groupthink renders them worse than useless. But I’m not sure that the ’specialist’ press is really that much better. A recent incident on an internet mailing list (which I won’t name), featuring the editor of a well-known rock magazine (which I also won’t name) made this abundantly clear.

A few days ago, said editor printed a throwaway one-liner in his magazine dismissing a band I’ve actually seen a couple of times in fairly damning terms. On the bands independant fan email group, some fans (myself included) understandably took exception to this. The words ‘hack scribbler’ were used.

Next thing we know, this ‘professional critic’ comes bargeing into the forum, agressively flaming everybody concerned, with his basic message being “how dare we peons disagree with him because he’s paid to do this for a living, and we’re just rank amateurs hiding behind the anonymity of computer keyboards”.

Of course, the reason we’re anonymous people to him is that he’s never met us at gigs, and the reason for that is that he’s a London based music journo who never ventures beyond the M25 (or should that the North Circular?). We go to gigs in places like Crewe or Swansea, the sort of places no London-based hack scribbler could even find on a map. The band in question know who I am, for starters.

That’s the whole ‘blogs versus dead tree media’ argument in a nutshell. It again raises the question whether professional critics still serve any useful purpose in the days of the Internet.

For once, I’m not going to a gig this weekend. Yes I know Genesis are playing Old Trafford, but not only does “Gurning Disney Phil Collins” not really appeal to me, but I’ve got something else on. Summer 2007 Stabcon, at the Brittania Hotel in Stockport, for a weekend of RPGs and incredibly complicated board game. Beer and lack of sleep will probably also be involved.

There’s still a date clash with another event though. The East Lancashire Railway’s diesel gala is the same weekend

Bryan Josh, Guitar Hero

Mostly Autumn’s Heart Full of Sky tour came to a triumphal end at the Met Theatre in Bury. Bury Met isn’t my favourite MA venue. If I’d had to choose between this and Crewe Limelight three weeks ago, I would have chosen the former. But Bury turned out to be the best gig of the tour.

Heather Findlay

This really was Mostly Autumn at their very best, with a 110% performance from the whole band. The setlist was identical to the set played at Crewe three weeks ago, starting with the apocalyptic “Fading Colours” (The Bells! The Bells!) and ending with the magnificent “Carpe Diem”. The only change was the addition of extended jam at the beginning of “Nowhere to Hide”, a song I don’t think I’ve ever heard played in quite the same way twice.

Andy Smith rocks out

Yet again I was right down the front with the hardcore fans; next to Maria, DT, Roger Newport, Paul Quinton and Aneil Jangra, all of whom have clocked up far more MA gigs than I have. So I have no idea what the sound was like further back, because I was getting monitors and stage amps rather than the PA. But it all sounded fantastic where I was, not too loud, with just the right balance between Bryan’s guitar and those multi-layered vocal harmonies..

Angie Gordon

This was one of those gigs where I really can’t single out any one band member as the star of the show; everyone was on top form; Bryan Josh proved yet again that the guitar hero is not extinct, Heather’s vocals were sublime and Gavin’s precise drumming has really tightened up the band’s sound. This lineup has really gelled, and people who wrote the band off following the departures of Iain Jennings and Liam Davidson clearly haven’t seen this incarnation of the band on stage.

Chris Johnson

The gig was tinged with sadness, in that there’s a real possibility that we may never see all seven this particular lineup together on stage again. Chris Johnson and Gavin Griffiths will be spending most of the rest of the year on tour with Fish, and the Murrayfield gig in July will feature a one-off reunion of the 2005 lineup with Iain and Andy Jennings and Liam Davidson. And by the time the Christmas gigs roll around, Angie will be on maternity leave.

Livvy Sparnenn

This is the first time I’ve taken my camera to a Mostly Autumn gig in a venue with decent stage lighting. All the above pictures are mine; I’ve uploaded a lot more to my fotopic site, which can be found here